The Eastern College Athletic Conference men’s ice hockey championships are back in Lake Placid for the fifth straight year, and the tournament begins today at the Olympic Center with two semifinal matchups.

Clarkson and Harvard will face off in the first game of a doubleheader at the Herb Brooks Arena starting at 4 p.m., and Cornell and Princeton then take the ice for the second matchup slated to start at 7:30 p.m. The winners advance to Saturday’s championship final at 7 p.m.

Today’s opening game pits last year’s ECAC champion Harvard against a Clarkson team that has had a solid season and last appeared in the league’s final four tournament 11 years ago. The Crimson are looking at a must-win situation if they want to advance into the NCCA playoffs while the Golden Knights still have an opportunity to move on even if they don’t take the title.

Harvard reached Lake Placid by taking down Dartmouth 2-1 in last weekend’s best-of-three quarterfinal series and owns a 15-13-4 record overall. Up front, the Crimson are led by junior Ryan Donato, who on Thursday, was named the ECAC’s player of the year by the conference’s coaches. Donato is fresh off a staring role with the United States Olympic team that played in Pyeongchang, where he scored five goals in five games played. Donato leads Harvard in scoring with 26 goals, 15 assists and 41 points.

Clarkson’s Sheldon Rempal, in white, flips the puck between teammates Aaron Thow, left and Dylan Gareau on Thursday in Lake Placid. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

The Crimson are anchored in goal by senior Merrick Madsen, who at 6’5″ covers a lot of net. Madsen was selected by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2013 NHL entry draft and has appeared in 90 games during his career at Harvard while compiling a record of 56-22-8 and a 2.09 goals-against average.

Harvard, which is looking for its third ECAC crown in the past four years, will clash with a Clarkson team that hasn’t been to the finals since 2007. The Golden Knights come to Lake Placid with a 22-9-6 mark and are the nation’s 10-ranked men’s Division I team in the USCHO poll.

Clarkson has seven players with 25 or more points and three sophomores lead the way. Sheldon Rempal, who hails from Calgary, Canada, tops the Golden Knights with 22 goals, 21 assists and 43 points. Nico Sturm, of Augsburg, Germany, is next with 36 points, and Lambert, Quebec’s Devin Brousseau is third with 21 points.

Jake Kielly, a sophomore from Eden Prairie, Minnesota, has appeared in goal in all by one of Clarkson’s 37 games played. He has a 21-8-6 record and a 1.79 goals-against average.

The Golden Knights toppled Colgate 2-1 in last weekend’s quarterfinal round to reach Lake Placid.

Cornell has been on fire this season and is looking to return to the final after falling 4-1 to Harvard a year ago in the title tilt at Herb Brooks Arena. The Big Red are ranked second-nationally and have a 25-4-2 record. Cornell rolled through the ECAC during the regular season and claimed the league crown with a 17-3-2 record.

Just a freshman, Matthew Galajda is the backbone of the team. The goaltender from Aurora, Ontario was named the ECAC’s rookie of the year and leads the nation in goals against, allowing the opposition an average of just 1.43 goals per game.

Cornell has a balanced attack on offense with 15 players registering 10 or more points. Playing just a short distance from his hometown of Manlius, junior Anthony Angello leads the Big Red in scoring with 13 goals, 13 assists and 26 points. Senior Trevor Yates is next on the list with 24 points and Alex Rauter and Mitch Vanderlaan are tied for third with 20 points each.

Top-seeded Cornell swept Quinnipiac 2-0 in the best-of-three quarterfinal round by 9-1 and 2-0 scores.

Princeton pulled off an upset to reach Lake Placid, sweeping the league’s regular-season runner-up Union on the road. The Tigers head into tonight’s semifinal as the seventh-seed and they have some big time firepower as Max Veroneau and Ryan Kuffner, who are both juniors, are first and second in league scoring. Veroneau has 53 points, including 37 assists, while Kuffner has 50 points, which includes 29 goals. Sophomore Jackson Cressey and senior David Hallisey have also made a big impact on offense with 38 and 36 points, respectively.

Freshman Ryan Ferland, of Franklin, Massachusetts, is Princeton’s go-to-goalie and has a 16-12-4 mark.

Like Harvard, the Tigers are staring at a must-win scenario this weekend if they plan to advance into the NCAA postseason tournament.